Sunderland get Cooper on trial

Sunderland have taken on Wolves' midfielder Kevin Cooper for a trial period, with a view to a three month loan signing.

Derby-born Cooper, 28, will begin training with Sunderland on New Year's Day - but he will not be eligible to represent Sunderland in our FA Cup 3rd round match against Hartlepool on Saturday.

He has played only once for Wolves this season, playing the second half in Wolves' 4-0 home defeat against Charlton in his team's second match of this season.

Cooper, 28, is a left-sided player who McCarthy is hoping can fill the void left by the departures of loan signings Stewart Downing and Alan Quinn. He signed for Wolves in the spring of 2002 for £1m from Wimbledon.

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KEVIN COOPER

Derby County: July 93 to Aug 97, 5 apps, no goals.
Stockport: March 87 to May 97 (loan), 12 apps, 3 goals
Stockport: Aug 97 to March 01, 172 apps, 20 goals
Wimbledon: March 01 to March 02, 54 apps, 13 goals
Wolves: March 02 to present, 36 apps, 4 goals

Bradford chairman almost quit after Sunderland loss

The chairman of Bradford City has revealed today that he seriously considered resigning after his club's Boxing Day defeat at the Stadium of Light.

Bradford went down 3-0 to the Lads and Chairman Gordon Gibb has said that his future at the club is far from settled.

He branded his side's performance as "unacceptable" that day, and told BBC Radio Leeds, "I didn't think there was sufficient application there (against Sunderland) for me to justify my efforts and the financial and personal sacrifices which have been made to the club."

And despite Bradford beating Coventry at the weekend, he said he may well step down if the club succumb to relegation in May. "I don't think I've got the heart in starting again.

"There are only so many times you can pull a magical rabbit from a hat."

The Bantams are second from bottom of Division One, and have won only five of their 26 matches so far this season, with only Wimbledon having lost more games than them in the division.

Hartlepool bringing 9,100 on Saturday

Hartlepool United have sold out their entire allocation of tickets for the FA Cup third round game at the Stadium of Light this coming Saturday.

The Monkey Hangers were entitled to a 15% share of the SoL capacity (just over 7,000 tickets) but were allocated 10,000 by SAFC, although this was reduced to 9,100 supporters on police advice - and that entire allocation finally sold out today.

The trip is expected to be the biggest away following in Hartlepool FC's history, and indeed will be the largest away supporters' allocation ever at the Stadium of Light - surpassing the 7,000 West Ham fans who visited for the FA Cup 5th round tie in January 2001.

A spokesman for Hartlepool told the Northern Echo, "This has really taken us aback - the whole town is gearing up for the game. We put tickets on sale to season ticket holders last week and expected a steady flow since, but it has never stopped. It's a tremendous achievement for us to take so many fans to the game."